


You're not Alone

by crystalgracee



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-26 02:37:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9858248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystalgracee/pseuds/crystalgracee
Summary: A quick angsty/fluffy drabble, with Dorian seeing his love for the first time after meeting Solas in Trespasser.





	

Dorian took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. Arthfael hadn't been in a good state when they rushed him back to the Winter Palace - in fact he was practically dying - and Dorian wasn't sure what he'd see behind the carved Orlesian door.

Trying to stop his hands from shaking, he walked in. Arthfael was laying on his back on an elegant, gold-tinted bed, with what looked like a wyvern-down mattress. Waist down, he was covered with a silky green duvet, and there were at least five pillows by his head. Lavellan himself was resting on the largest pillow, brown locks - which had grown much longer in the past two years - framing his face. At the sound of footsteps, Arthfy turned his head slightly, training his hazel-brown eyes on Dorian, and smiled. Dorian's heart almost burst. It was the same warm, tired smile that Arthfael used to give him after battle. The loving, 'I'm okay' smile, which vanished seemingly forever after that wretched mission at Adamant Fortress.

'Good to see you're still alive. Wouldn't want to make the council decide on the fate of the Inquisition without it's Inquisitor, after all.' Dorian tried joking, not knowing how to greet his lover after such a close brush with death. Sitting down on the bed, Dorian clasped Arthfaels hand gently, doing his best not to clutch on to it desperately. 'You've got to stop doing that, you know. Making me think you're dead, disappearing into places with no way of me to follow.' _Especially since the mark was killing you slowly in front of me,_ He added silently.

'If I survived the Fade, I'm pretty sure I can survive an eluvian, Dorian.' Arthfael said, eyes shining. Not with tears, Dorian noted. They were actually bright, the light from the window highlighting the gold flecks in his irises. He hadn't seen Arthfael look so content, so peaceful, since.. since the last time they were at the Winter Palace, over two years ago. 

'Yes, but eluvians can lead to maker knows where, and for all I knew, some demon could have attacked you, or the Viddasala, and we weren't there to help, and..' Maker's breath, why was he still going? 

Arthfael squeezed his hand reassuringly. 'I'm sorry I worried you.' 

Dorian sighed, and glanced over at Arthfael's left arm, bandaged up and ending at the elbow. 'I'm glad that's over. I'd hate to see that thing cause you more pain.'

'No more trekking across the countryside closing rifts,' Arthy said almost nostalgically. He tried to adjust himself, and winced.

Something dark passed behind Lavellan's eyes, and he turned his head away, smile fading.

 _Kaffas._ As if Arthfael needed a reminder of what happened just a few days before. 'Are you.. alright?' he asked, and cringed. Why did he always ask this when Arthfy was so obviously not alright? 

Arthfael smiled faintly, and looked to face Dorian again. Maybe it wasn't the entirely wrong thing to say. 

'I'm alive, so that's a plus. I'm better off than the Viddasala and her soldiers, at least.' Arthfael sighed. 'Although sometimes I think that maybe it'd be better if Solas turned me into stone too. It'd be an honest betrayal, at least, and not...' He closed his eyes to stop tears from spilling out. 

Dorian brushed a lock of hair away from Arthfaels face. He didn't know what had happened beyond the eluvian; all that Arthfy managed to say before passing out was,  _'Solas. He-he wants to..We have to- we need to tell Leliana.'_ The panicked, distraught way he said that as he stumbled out of the eluvian was forever burned into Dorians mind. 

Dorian flinched as he remembered Arthfael crumbling into his arms, and the horror as he realised that Arthfy was not only still bleeding after the fight with Saarebas, but that his entire left arm was white hot, with green fade ripples running across his body, even when unconscious.

Overwhelmed with emotion, Dorian leaned over, and hugged Arthy as carefully as he could manage. 

'I thought you were done for,' he breathed into Lavellans shoulder shakily, 'We didn't know where we were or if we'd manage to get back on time. I-I thought I'd lost you.'

Arthfy hugged Dorian back with his good arm, and sighed uneasily.

'You know, I always treated Solas like a father. Someone so, so wise, who I could always turn to for advice. I never had anyone like that in the clan. I thought I could trust him, I thought...' Arthfael closed his eyes, and his face hardened. 'I thought that he cared. But it was all a lie.' he finished.

Dorian stroked Arthfael's hair and thought about what to say. He knew all about Arthfy's hard life with the Dalish, and how much the people at Skyhold meant to him, how much he trusted them. Dorian clutched Lavellan as he realised what Solas' betrayal might do to him.

'None of us will ever turn away from you, amatus. None of us will betray you, or trick you, and we'll always be here for you. _I swear it._ '

Arthfael smiled meekly and burst into tears, getting out all the emotions from the last few days.

* * *

  


As the sun set over Orlais, and all of Arthfael's closest friends gathered near his bed, he was reminded with gifts, stories, and relieved teary smiles, that no matter what happened, he was loved.

And just for a moment, Arthfael felt that he still had a family.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I don't what this is, but it was fun to write


End file.
